James Nash scores big for Craft-Bamboo while team-mate Pepe Oriola falters

Craft-Bamboo Racing driver James Nash moves back to third in the standings after strong result on Sunday at the Salzburgring, and is now just eight points behind new championship leader Stefano Comini.

Sunday was however a disastrous one for Nash’s team-mate Pepe Oriola, who retired from the lead of Race 1 with a damaged wastegate, which the team were unable to repair before the second race.

A broken drive flange on Nash’s SEAT León in qualifying saw the Briton qualify down in 14th position for the races, but a strong run in an action packed race one saw him net second at the finish, before another good run in the wet race two which saw him finish fourth

“(What happened in) qualifying was not how we wanted to start to the weekend, but your championships come from your bad weekends, and I think we’ve made the best of this,” said Nash.

“(Race 1) was a bit of a lottery. There was an accident at the first corner but we came through and then we were in the fight.

“We had a great car, we were strong through the corners and down the straights, so it was about making the best of what we had.”

Nash now heads to Oscherleben just seven points behind his team-mate, with Craft-Bamboo Racing extending their lead over WestCoast Racing in the teams’ championship by one point.

“We need to keep going. (The championship) keeps changing a lot from weekend to weekend,” said Nash. “We had a really bad Imola, but now Pepe has had an awful Salzburg so that’s brought us back into the frame.”

Nash’s results this weekend mean the Brit will carry 20kg of success ballast at Oschersleben, with Race 2 winner Jean-Karl Vernay carrying 30kg and Mikhail Grachev on 10kg.